By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: New Glenn upper stage malfunction leads to loss of AST Space Mobile spacecraft, Canadian SSA company NorthStar to go public via SPAC merger, China's growing satellite manufacturing capabilities, and more.
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Top Stories
A New Glenn launch on Sunday placed an AST SpaceMobile payload into the wrong orbit. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:25 a.m. Eastern on the NG-3 mission, carrying the BlueBird 7 satellite. About an hour after the scheduled payload deployment into low Earth orbit, Blue Origin announced the satellite had been deployed into an "off-nominal" orbit following an apparent issue with the rocket's upper stage. AST SpaceMobile said later that day that the orbit was too low for the spacecraft's electric propulsion to recover from and BlueBird 7 will be deorbited. The failure overshadowed the successful landing of the New Glenn booster, which was making its second flight after the NG-2 mission last November. However, Blue Origin had replaced the BE-4 engines in the booster between the two flights. AST SpaceMobile said that, despite the failure, it still expected to have 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year; it currently has six. Shares in AST SpaceMobile were down about 15% in pre-market trading Monday. [SpaceNews]
The Space Force is exploring if it can launch missions on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket without using the vehicle's solid rocket boosters. Vulcan has been sidelined since its USSF-87 mission in February, when a performance anomaly appeared on one of its solid rocket boosters shortly after liftoff. The head of Space Systems Command said last week that the service is now evaluating whether Vulcan can fly missions that do not require boosters built by Northrop Grumman, which are central to the investigation. Lower-energy missions, such as launching batches of satellites for the Space Development Agency into low Earth orbit, could potentially fly without boosters. [SpaceNews]
China is ramping up its ability to mass-manufacture satellites to support constellations. Chinese space industry outlet Hello Space has identified at least 55 satellite factories in China, with 36 already in operation. According to the analysis, this provides a total production capacity of 4,050 satellites per year from the already operational facilities, with a projected additional capacity of 3,310 satellites from the future factories. This is in part to help meet the requirements of the Guowang and Qianfan megaconstellations, which are planned to comprise a total of 28,000 satellites, as well as future proposed systems. However, the number of satellites actually reaching orbit is far lower than that capacity, thanks to launch constraints and the still-maturing commercial viability of large satellite constellations. [SpaceNews]
Canadian space situational awareness company NorthStar Earth and Space plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger. NorthStar said Friday it would merge with Viking Acquisition Corp. I, a publicly listed shell company that has $230 million in trust. How much of that cash ultimately reaches NorthStar will depend on shareholder redemptions ahead of the merger vote, although the deal is structured to deliver at least $30 million before any additional funds remaining in trust. The transaction, slated to close before the end of September following shareholder and regulatory approvals, gives NorthStar a pre-money valuation of $300 million. NorthStar plans to use the funding to expand a network of space-based sensors for tracking other space objects, although the company has struggled to deploy satellites, challenges that have included legal action against satellite manufacturer Spire. [SpaceNews]
NASA has selected SpaceX to launch a European Mars rover despite seeking to cancel funding for the mission in its budget. NASA announced last week it awarded SpaceX a contract to launch ESA's Rosalind Franklin rover on a Falcon Heavy in late 2028. The contract is worth $175.7 million. NASA is providing the launch because it also agreed to offer radioisotope heating units and braking thrusters to ESA for the mission to compensate for capabilities lost when ESA canceled cooperation with Roscosmos on the mission in 2022. However, NASA's fiscal year 2027 budget includes no funding for its contributions to Rosalind Franklin, one of more than 50 science missions proposed for cancellation in the budget. [SpaceNews]
Rhea Space Activity has raised $6 million to advance navigation software designed to operate without GPS. The company raised the Series A round from several funds to accelerate development of navigation software that can guide spacecraft in environments where GPS signals are unavailable, including during atmospheric reentry or in deep space. The company said the system, called AutoNav, will be tested on a reentry capsule developed by Varda Space Industries that launched last month. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
A Falcon 9 launched more Starlink satellites Sunday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:03 p.m. Eastern, putting 25 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch featured the 600th landing of a Falcon booster. [Spaceflight Now]
A Soyuz rocket launched a Russian military payload. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome Thursday at 7:17 p.m. Eastern carrying a classified mission for the Russian Ministry of Defense. By Saturday, the U.S. Space Force had tracked 10 objects from the launch in two sets of inclinations, suggesting a plane-change maneuver by the rocket's Volga upper stage during the flight. [RussianSpaceWeb.com]
Chinese astronauts currently on the Tiangong space station will spend an extra month there. The three astronauts, who arrived at the station in late October on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft for a six-month stay, will now return by late May. That is linked to a switch in spacecraft for their return: Shenzhou-21 was used by the astronauts who arrived on Shenzhou-20 after that spacecraft suffered damage from a micrometeoroid or orbital debris impact. China launched the uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft in late November that will be used by the current crew. [SpaceNews]
The crew of the Artemis 2 mission said they were confident the Orion spacecraft is ready to support future missions. At a press conference last week, astronauts praised the performance of Orion on the nine-day mission, including its handling, despite minor issues such as leaking valves. That performance, they said, showed the spacecraft was ready for future missions, including those supporting lunar landing attempts. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab has completed its acquisition of optical intersatellite terminal company Mynaric. The company announced last week it closed the deal, announced last year, to acquire Mynaric for $155.3 million in cash and stock. German regulators approved the transaction last month after an extensive review. Mynaric will continue to operate in Germany and serve as Rocket Lab's first European entity, giving the company access to space programs across Europe. [Rocket Lab]
NASA has turned off an instrument on Voyager 1 as that spacecraft's power levels decline. NASA announced Friday it turned off the Low-energy Charged Particles (LECP) experiment to conserve power after an unexpected dip in power readings on the spacecraft in late February during a routine maneuver. The version of LECP on Voyager 2 was turned off last year. The two Voyager spacecraft use radioisotope thermoelectric generators to produce power, and those power levels are dropping as the plutonium in them decays. NASA also announced Friday it turned off the Burst Alert Telescope instrument on its Swift gamma-ray observatory spacecraft to conserve power as that spacecraft's low Earth orbit decays. NASA is modifying operations of the spacecraft to reduce drag, buying time for the launch of a reboost mission being developed by Katalyst Space slated for as soon as June. [NASA]
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The Week Ahead
Monday:
Monday-Thursday:
Libreville, Gabon: The NewSpace Africa Conference by Space in Africa and the African Space Agency discusses space business and policy issues in Africa. Montecatini, Italy: The International Academy of Astronautics holds the Humans in Space 2026 conference. Tuesday:
Tuesday-Thursday:
Wednesday:
Wednesday-Thursday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10 a.m. Eastern. Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Scheduled launch of a Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Progress MS-34 cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station at 6:21 p.m. Eastern
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